High Intenstiy Intervals For Fat loss

     Training for fat loss has a stigma attached to it that it is a rather slow and time consuming process. Fat loss is associated with endurance type training and calorie restriction. If you perform endurance exercise fro fat loss your results are going to be exactly that. . an endurance event!

Have you ever wondered what you can do to SPEED UP and accelerate the fat loss process or stopped to think about the training methods you use and if what you are doing is responsible for the lack of progress or the slow progress you are making?

Let Us Introduce You To The Fat Loss Accelerator! HIT - High Intensity Training: I come from an athletics training background and have observed that they leanest athletes spend the majority of their training time performing activities, which require them to train with intensity and move their bodies or body parts at high speeds. Even when they do slower activities, such as static type lifts in the gym, they will still aim to explode the weight up, or they may do some explosive exercise afterwards. They will rarely be found training using slow movements.

You should take the same approach as athletes do when it comes to accelerating your own fat loss results. Remember; SLOW MOVEMENT = SLOW PROGRESS. A Study carried out recently found that 2 groups of subjects lifted their calculated %'s of their 1rep max (1RM) for the SAME amount of volume of training. One group lifted at a fast tempo (2-0-X) the other group lifted at a slow tempo 2-0-2. The Results indicated that the 'Fast' group had a significantly greater elevation in metabolism 5, 10 and 30 minutes post exercise. (Mazzetti, 2007) Burning FAT whilst I'm at home lying on the couch? YES PLEASE!

This doesn't mean that you should perform every single exercise as fast as possible. It means that you need to start incorporating some exercises and or training routines that will either require you or encourage you to move your body or body parts fast. Just as athletes are told to think fast and train fast if they want to be fast, we are telling you to Train FAST!

If you train at steady state intensities and perform typical endurance type activities you will do exactly that; increase your endurance! This equates to you utilising energy more economically, increased running economy and lower resting metabolic rate. In other words you just made it HARDER for yourself to burn off that same amount of energy in your next session. WELL DONE! Well done if you are training for an endurance event. Not if you want to look and feel lean and athletic. Do you think a sprinter or pole vaulter EVER goes for a long slow run? Of course they don't, not only is it useless to them, its counterproductive!

Counterproductive! . . Really? ANY Exercise initiates a stress response from the endocrine system; cortisol. The stress hormone cortisol is released that will break down muscle and fat for use it for energy. By its very nature, aerobic exercise never allows the body to reach the intensity required to level of intensitythat will result in growth promoting testosterone and HGH and continually exposes the body to cortisol, which makes fat loss more difficult and muscle wastage an easier option for the body. High intensity training, will also release this cortisol but it will also release muscle protective HGH and testosterone. When testosterone and HGH are present with cortisol, fat storage is blocked and the three hormones together AMPLIFY fat burning. This scenario results in Fat loss, not muscle loss and definitely not weight gain. So you see now that stress hormones in high amounts are appropriate when they act with the growth hormones of the body. Stress hormones cannot lead to fat gain and aging when they are followed by high intensity activity. In the natural world, stress leads to increased availability of sugar, which leads to the ability to fight or flee.

Actually, here's a quick question for you. Who's generally leaner and reaches lower bodyfat percentages, sprinters or distance runners? DISTANCE RUNNERS, Ehhhh wrong answer! Distance runners are lean, there's no doubt about that, but they are not leaner than most sprinters, they are simply skinnier. Becoming skinnier should never be your goal, becoming leaner, holding onto your muscle and burning off the excess fat, is what you should always be aiming for.

Train Metabolically For Fat Loss, Not Aerobically! Research has shown that it is not just what happens DURING exercise, but also what happens AFTER exercise that makes a difference. Have you ever walked up a large hill? you better? It's not until you reach the top of the hill that your body really begins to gasp for air. This is known as EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) in exercise research. It basically refers to a physiological elevation in metabolism. This is why you need to 'Think OUTSIDE The Workout'. The exercise routines or training protocols you use must have a POSITIVE impact on your metabolism not just during the activity but after the completion of the activity also.

We always like to bring adaptations back to evolution. When our ancestors had to kill their dinner or avoid being eaten, their level of fitness and the capacity to adapt determined success or failure, life or death! Every time he missed a kill or barely escaped being dinner, his body got leaner, faster, and stronger in order to survive.

Okay so we know that interval training (alternating between high-intensity and easy recovery periods) helps your heart work more efficiently and burns calories in record time. Don't we? Research from the University of Guelph in Ontario has recently shows that it also increases the amount of fat you burn during your OTHER workouts too. In the study, women cycled for four minutes at 90 percent of their max, rested two minutes, and repeated the pedal/rest interval nine more times. After doing these hour-long workouts (called HIT for high-intensity training) every other day for two weeks, the women used 36 percent more fat for energy during a low-intensity 60-minute ride than they did before the study. Intervals improve your ability to use fat for fuel. This does not mean you have to do 60 minute interval sessions on the stationary bike. It means that if you replace your typical cardio session with a HIT routine, you'll amp up the fat burning effect of your lower-intensity workouts, too.

EXIT The 'Fat Burning Zone' Now! I know what the HIT skeptics are saying 'but you have to work in the 'fat burning zone' well we're telling you to exit the fat burning zone immediately! >30% max HR work is not only time consuming and counter productive its BORING!! And not only is it boring but the very nature of aerobic exercise is to increase endurance. . when you increase your endurance you also become more economical with substrate (fuel) and this means the hour on the treadmill you done last week is going to burn a hell of a lot less calories than the hour you done last month! Your body has simply done as it's told and devised a way for you to complete the hour session without burning as much energy. . it's a survival mechanism and its VERY efficient!

Not only will your body adapt in the short term but it will also adapt to it in the long term. Your body also becomes accustomed to the movement pattern you have been doing and adapts accordingly! If I told you to carry a large box from one side of the room to the other would you a) pick it up in one hand and hold it over your head or b) bend your knees squat over the box and carry it close to your centre of gravity? The second one right? You would make it easy for your self! That is exactly what your body does. Your metabolism knows exactly what demands are being placed on it and exactly what muscles are firing and can coordinate them accordingly. Make it easy for itself!! With the ultimate result of reducing the net amount of energy as the workout goes on. Energy production is NOT linear doing cardio!

ALL fat loss training protocols should have a 'METABOLIC' component to them. For example; resistance training plans attack the muscle and muscle is metabolically active. When you attack your muscles via resistance training the muscle fibres become damaged (tiny microscopic tears) and they need time and energy to repair and grow back stronger. This repair process is costly and heightens metabolism! Interval training and circuit training protocols have more of a metabolic emphasis. Their primary function, along with conditioning, is to create EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) or the desired after burn effect! Turning your body into a fat burning furnace!

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